The present invention relates to an apparatus for driving tapes, films, sheets, webs and the like (referred to generically as "tapes" hereinafter), and more particularly it relates to an apparatus for selecting a desired tape among a plurality of tapes and for moving the selected tape so as to position one or more items recorded on said tape in a predetermined station or to record information on said tape.
The present invention is applicable to multi-purpose codeless input equipments for computer addressers, telephone itself and telephone exchangers, microfilm readers, magnetic recording systems or the like.
A conventional codeless input machine 4 (FIG. 1) comprises an input unit 1 and a film 2 on which a number of items 3 are recorded in matrix pattern. Each item recorded on the film corresponds to a respective information to be inputted. All of the items recorded on the film are grouped into a plurality of pages 5 having a lengthwise dimension B equal to that of the input unit, a transverse dimension of each page corresponding to the width of the film. In order to position a desired item 3 on the input unit 1 for inputting the information corresponding to the desired item, the film 2 can be moved by means of an appropriate film feeding device (not shown) incorporated into the input machine in both directions indicated by an arrow A such that the page 5 including the desired item 3 is aligned with the input unit 1. When the desired item 3 is energized by a pen-touch or key-push operation, a corresponding input signal is generated; said input signal selecting or designating a corresponding address among a plurality of addresses stored in a memory (not shown) through the medium of a control portion (not shown) in the input unit 1, thereby generating an output signal regarding the information corresponding to the desired item. When a new item to be inputted next is not included in the present page, the film must be moved to position a new page including said new item on the input unit 1.
In this conventional input machine, since the movement of the film is effected per "page", when the lengthwise dimension of the page B and the moving speed of the film is V, it takes at least a time of B/V for changing a page from one to the next one. Particularly, if the first page is changed to the last page, when the total number of pages is N, it takes a long time of B/V (N-1). Accordingly, this conventional input machine has a disadvantage of time consumption for changing pages with the result that efficiency of inputting operation is reduced.
By increasing the moving speed of the film, the above drawback of the conventional input machine can be more or less eliminated. However, in this case, there exists another drawback that it is difficult to accurately stop a desired page of the film in a predetermined position on the input unit.
Another codeless input machine having a plurality of films wound on a single roller is also already known, as described in the Japanese Patent Public Disclosure No. 29734/81. In this known codeless input machine (FIGS. 2A and 2B), inner ends of the films 6 are secured to a single roller 7 at predetermined circumferential intervals, the films being wound on the roller in the same sense. When the films are unwound by rotating the roller 7 in a direction C by means of a stepping motor (not shown) with the aid of guide rollers 8 and an endless belt 9, a desired film 6 is separated from the other films by means of a film separating bar 10, thereby guiding only the selected film in a predetermined position (between an input unit 11 and a guide 12). However, in this known input machine, since the free ends of the films wound on the roller 7 are in an uncontrolled condition, erroneous selection of the film and jam of the films frequently occur.